2026-08-13 –, Room 2
Here we present, LightMatter.jl, a flexible and efficient framework for simulations of nonequilibrium electron dynamics triggered by light. By leveraging Julia’s powerful metaprogramming capabilities, it dynamically assembles and propagates scattering equations for different physical processes, offering fine control over accuracy and computational cost. Herein, I present its application in the study of laser-driven electron and phonon equilibration in metals showcasing it's power to model complex nanoscale materials.
Light-matter interactions are fundamental to a wide range of natural and technological processes, from photosynthesis and vision to photovoltaics and photocatalysis. Understanding how light drives matter out of thermodynamic equilibrium and leads to electronic and phononic transport phenomena is crucial for developing efficient optical sensors, nanolithography, and quantum technologies. These interactions govern key phenomena such as plasmonic excitations, energy transfer, and non-radiative relaxation, all of which play a critical role in spectroscopy, materials science, and nanophotonics.
LightMatter.jl provides a framework for the simulation of the time-dependent evolution of the electronic energy distribution due to laser excitation in metals. The aim of the package is to enable users to design simulations that capture the physics of interest to their required level of theory. LightMatter.jl uses metaprogramming within Julia to construct a custom coupled set of ordinary differential equations which can then be propagated using DiffEq.jl. The metaprogramming also enables users to develop their own methodologies by exchanging components of the expression that describe different physical phenomena for custom functions or approximations.
Currently the package contains capabilities to perform energy-resolved Boltzmann equations (B. Y. Mueller \& B. Rethfeld, Phys. Rev. B 2013) , the Two-Temperature Model (S. I. Anisimov et al., Sov. Phys. JETP 1974), the Athermal Electron Model, and time-dependent Schrödinger equation (TDSE) for a given Hamiltonian in the dipole approximation. The package is designed in such a way that components of the theories such as lifetimes, parameters and matrix elements can easily be implemented and tested while accessing all the other features.
I am a PhD student in the Maurer group, primarily focused on developing methods to simulate light-driven surface chemistry. This is a multi-faceted simulation with dependency on accurately capturing a multitude of properties. These include the light-matter simulations themselves, the resulting non-adiabatic dynamics, as well as the electronic structure of the adsorbate and surface in both the ground and excited states. I have a passion for fast, flexible and modern code which is why I love the Julia language and hope to generate a multitude of packages to simulate surface chemistry in Julia. For some examples, see NQCDynamics.jl and LightMatter.jl.